Another picture from my strolling around in Whitchapel in these last couple of days......... this reflects more of the architecture of the past not the changing culture of now. This scene for me evokes almost the ghosts of an old archetypal view of the East End with dockers, criminals and prostitutes........ This could almost be an alley for the legendary crimes of Jack the Ripper.

I felt depressed by a link a jezblog reader sent me to a Dispatches program on Channel 4 looking into the rise of political manipulation and control by radical Islamists in the Borough of Tower Hamlets of which Whitechapel and the East end Mosque seem to be at the center........... http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#3037414

But I felt happy to hear on the BBC Today program of the fatwa issued by the Pakistani Islamic scholar Dr Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri condemning all acts of terror as sin against Allah. He travelled to London especially to issue his edict but was not able to get all Britain's leading Islamic leaders to attend or endorse his fatwa although some did attend and supported him.

"This fatwa is an absolute condemnation of terrorism. Without any excuse, without any pretext, without any exceptions, without creating any ways of justification," he said.
"This condemnation is in its totality, in its comprehensiveness, its absoluteness, a total condemnation of every act of terrorism in every form which is being committed or has been committed wrongly in the name of Islam."

YES. Reading the linked article, they are anticipating naysayers who might treat it as another denouncement destined to fall on deaf ears. But in a struggle of this magnitude, every voice, especially a voice of this caliber, is critical I would think. It is a relief to hear voices of peace so undeterred from a course surely putting them at high personal risk.[reply]Marena Groll @ March 10, 2010, 11:02 pm

Yes I think it really does put him at personal risk. But sadly the fear of extremists has allowed the middle ground to move towards the islamistists position. Failure by leading types to really condemn violence in the name of islam allows it to florish.

“We have suffered as a family over the last three and half years for the actions of some individuals with whom we have nothing in common.”

The words of the father whose daughter was married to a man convicted of leading an attempt to blow up scores of planes in one coordinated attack using liquid explosives luckily the attack was foiled.

Richard Whittam, QC, for the prosecution, argued that she began to sympathise with her husband’s extremist beliefs.

In an entry that she made in a notebook in 2005 when she was waiting for Abdulla Ahmed Ali to return from Pakistan, she wrote: "I am growing more and more attached to the cause for which you are striving for [sic], and the reason for which we are apart.

Anyway its pretty clear she knew about it all but was amazingly cleared of not informing authorities.

The point of all this written here is that the father makes no reference to the terrible acts planned by his son in law. He makes no statement other than to claim that his family have suffered since the son in law was discovered and stopped.

He makes the claim that the wife, his daughter and he, the father in-law have nothing in common with her husband and his son in law the terrorist.

This is standard. As this is the usual position of Muslim Leaders in the UK. Muslim leaders do not express their total abhorrence for terror in any real way. They think it is best brushed under the carpet. They do not act to address it. They claim they are nothing to do with it and to link them to it is racism.

It is totally refreshing to hear someone say this is done in our name. It is up to us to make sure people do not use terror in our name and we must act to stop it. Dr Qadri's fatwa always condemns terror it does not give qualifiers or excuses. He wants to reclaim his religion from terror and wants action to prove Islam cannot be used to excuse these vile acts.... wants proper action to stop them happening in the name of Islam.

As we examine the responsibilities of Muslim nations to vigorously fight extremism, we must also look to other nations involvements and responsibilities. And mistakes.

Including my own country.

We did not do an effective job of countering the far right wing voices that led us into, at the least, a secularly unjustified war in Iraq. The war destabilized the area further fueling extremist violence. Eight years later we are still there in damage repair mode trying to exit on some kind of stable footing.

Not only did the leaders in the Bush administration reject and scoff at the idea of nation rebuilding, they actively dismantled its precepts tossing out the resources that constitute the most powerful weaponry in the fight against extremism. So where were the number of voices that should have been vigorously raised clearly and loudly condemning these actions while the Bush administration wreaked havoc in that arena? It was a devastating setback to combating terrorism and extremism.

Wiser voices have stepped on stage now, but so very late into the story. It will take a monumental effort in the area of nation rebuilding by all parties to push that agenda to the forefront. I do see progress flying under the press radar in emphasis on nation rebuilding in Afghanistan and surrounding areas.

Voices are silent/silenced or complacent for a variety of reasons on any number of issues. We have to call each other and our nations to accountability.

The US/NATO attack on the Afghanistan was a direct response to an appalling attack on civilians in NYC on 9-11.

The attack on Iraq was as response to continued flouting of international law and Security Council Directives by a dangerous dictator in the climate of fear created after 9-11.

In both those countries US intervention has led to high voter turn out elections. People in those countries want democracy and change despite attacks on them by extremists and sectarians. Despite the risk to them people in Afghanistan and Iraq vote in higher percentages than people in the UK or the US.

Its difficult to help ordinary people to live without fear and create something like a proper democracy when you are starting without even a functioning civil society and because of the constant attacks by sectarians and extremists. But these are worthy goals.

Attacks by extremists on ordinary people attempting to vote in Iraq are disgusting and wrong.

Attacks on young women attempting to go to school in Afghanistan are disgusting and wrong.

All of these acts of terror are disgusting and wrong.

We have to hold the line on this nothing that has happened justifies terror attacks on civilians ever.

The Palestinians robbed their cause of land and human rights of any essential righteousness and dignity it had by adopting suicide bombing.

They created a culture of the worship of the Shahid/ the martyrs / a death cult alienating even liberal Israelis that formerly wanted a proper accommodation and a two State solution.

It is disgusting and wrong. But morality doesn't occur in a vaccuum. To the degree that any nation's/leader's actions or inactions enable it, that is wrong.[reply]Marena Groll @ March 11, 2010, 5:22 pm

Guess I'd be remiss if I didn't say I love the contrasting blue in the photo. Yep. Still admire your incredible photography skills even though I find your political defense of the Iraq invasion more incredible. Runs off blog dodging swift rear end kicks from a Pixie Booted Jez... [reply]Marena Groll @ March 11, 2010, 5:55 pm

Hey, that's the gertaest! So with ll this brain power AWHFY?[reply]Lorren @ January 19, 2012, 7:19 am

Its disgusting and wrong.

The following remarks are not related to the above they stand on their own.

The actions of the democratically elected representative of 300 million people can be called into account in that representative democracy. When that democratically elected leader acts in concert with the leaders of democratic nations they may make errors of judgement but the privilege of their positions is that we have elected them to act on our behalf's to protect the safety of citizens and the system of government and human rights and freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of those nations.

picks up pixie boot prepares to throw........ :-)

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXX

PS....... I am an anti-fascist....... I spent a long time outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Sq London protesting when the US acted to prop up vile fascist governments in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile Argentina in the dim and distant past........ so more recently i am not going to protest when US military might is used to overthrow vile fascist governments in Afghanistan or Iraq then used to attempt to set up democracies. I want to see all true fascist regimes fall thats what I wanted before.... I remain consistent.[reply]Jezblog London UK :-)) @ March 11, 2010, 7:59 pm

Glad you're providing background. It does much to explain the intensity of where you're coming from. I share your intensity but not your thoughts on what constitutes the best way to fight the vileness. I'll let you have the last word on it. This time. ;-)

PS. Your aim might be good but you can't possibly throw that far mate.

I've never been to Whitechapel. I might have a wonder around the next time I'm in London[reply]Lee @ March 11, 2010, 5:14 am

Hey Lee...... Funny thing about Whitechapel was and is that it had such an authenticity as both home of the traditional white working class and as a hugely immigrant population and be smack next to the City (The Wall St bit of London) clearly with the property boom this delineation between districts of wealth and relative poverty could not last. So the inevitable yuppification has been at work. A lot has changed...... But without losing totally the atmosphere of the place. I have been going for curry on Brick Lane since I first came to London and photographing the area on and off for years. I would certainly recommend curry on a Friday night and the Markets on Brick lane on Sundays I imagine are just as huge and vibrant as ever with a mixture of folks and stalls selling everything from food and furniture from the totally legit to the obviously stolen...... Columbia Flower market was more yuppie but very interesting and lovely too...... Im not sure if that is still running cos it was always threatened back in the day...... we used to hang in the grim 24 hour cafes of commercial Street waiting for our film to be processed in the middle of the night........ but all of that looks well yupped up now so those places have all been closed....... but all in all Whitechapel is well worth a visit...... take the underground to Whitechapel tube..... drop in on the Whitechapel Art Gallery then walk from there...... head up Brick Lane...... :-))

Just watched another programme about the Jack the Ripper murders by of aqll people..Kelvin McKenzie; he reckoned that the infamous "Ripper" letters to the police were actually written by a journalist on a new Londn paper called "The Star" at the behest of the editor to further the cause of their sensationalist campaign for sales..interesting area..I always like reading the writer/weird psychogeographical poet type Iain Sinclair on the history of Whitechapel..[reply]Wearside Zak xx @ March 11, 2010, 6:47 am

Kelvin McKenzie himself probably made those calls to the police in the case of the Yorkshire Ripper he having been so impressed by the success of the previous editor of the Star back in the day's of Jack the Ripper.[reply]Mr Kipper @ March 11, 2010, 7:38 am

R U in town bro? Maybe we should hit the bagel bake? Or at least Shoreditch House..... they could of at least had that place open when we were hanging out down there we were only trendy enough for Charlie Wrights International bar and Grill......:-))[reply]Jezblog London UK :-)) @ March 11, 2010, 10:29 am

Its gonna be next week now...I heard that some mega resteraunt in Shoreditch burnt down..have a weird feeling that it might be that huge old building that we looked at![reply]"Leather Apron" xx @ March 11, 2010, 12:28 pm

Man I looked at tons of old buildings down there they are all priced in the millions now...... did u ever see that old synagogue I was thinking of buying??....mind u to extract that money its probably easiest to burn them down.......... I notice the National College of Fire Training also burnt down too....... without them ever having completed a fire safety assesment which it is illegal...... crimanal negligence not to have done one on any large building like a college or block of flats...... it would be funny if it was'nt serious is how they put it on The Today Program on Radio 4..... :-))

er....... prostitute?..... well er....... no but I am a freelance photographer..... its sort of the same........ but i think Jack the knife would have spared me anyway cos....... I just have not got that attractive vulnerable thing goin on........:-)) :-)) :-)) XXXXXXXXX

Still reading the different parts. A lot there.[reply]Marena Groll @ March 12, 2010, 2:48 pm

John I looked at that. I have to say it is not that I am not aquatinted with these ideas. I am basically opposed to pretending all radical islamic Organizations are fine and that to point out that they are not is racism. It just isn't.

One way for mainstream Islam to differentiate itself from Islamists is to differentiate itself from Islamism. Leaders should take a leaf out of Dr Qadri's book.

I remain as I always was totally opposed to racism and fascism...... opposed to all ideas and organizations fueled by hatred. I am totally opposed to the BNP and the NF also to Radical Islamists as they have a lot in common.

I am for universal human rights. I am disgusted to see Amnesty International inviting islamists on to their platforms. Radical islam is simply a threat to human rights to deny it is disingenuous. Its possible to act to secure the human rights for imprisoned islamists without embracing them as human rights campaigners. They are not.

I would advise you to read Christopher Hitchins on this subject.

Labeling people racist is a fantastic weapon of radical islam hiding in a liberal society.

You know you should read 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali ...... people on the Left should read her story and stand with her against oppression.

we've been down this road before when I argued Hamas has to be seen in the context of Israel's oppression. If you are now where I think you are we are never going to agree but my regard for you seems to be keeping me at my keyboard on a Saturday morning!

I didn't realise you are a Christopher Hitchins fan, though I should have twigged- defining Islam/Islamism as a totalitarian political movement analogous to fascism - or lets disrespect our own history and say it actually IS Fascism. To dear old Chris add Cohen, Amis, Anthony, Melanie Philips, Paul Berman et al and their "new cold war" reduction of a diverse & complex panoply so they can vent their fearful "liberal rage" on a minority. Surely we are all familiar with the "new racism" by now? Pop down to an EDL march on a Saturday lunchtime in a UK city to see how this endless diatribe is now working... tear off those veils! Demolish those minarets!

I do not accept that being critical of the wave of anti Muslim racism that has swept through The West is to give succor to "radical Islam" - that is a pretty crappy suggestion Jez (though it fits with "the failure of multiculturalism/we are too tolerant" dialogue so loved by the right)- as is the accusation that "the left" are against the struggle for freedom and rights(!) maybe you suspect we are all Stalinists = Facists underneath. Standing against illiberal intolerance does not prevent criticism of oppression whatever its guise. I'm not sure to what Amnesty platform you are referring? Rest assured though, we do have "thought crimes" here now, so the state can anyway imprison the suspects if they are thought to have (or to be encouraging) "evil ideologies"... indeed deportation to torture and death can be arranged... still at least we are liberals and anti fascist. Can't you see the way this narrative has been set up?

I know it has been UK government policy but man it is incredibly patronising to call on "Islamic leaders" to tell Muslims not to be radical (as if they are generals standing the troops down)-- sounds good from the outside I suppose, if one wants to construct a Muslim "collective responsibility" oh yes and then implement "collective punishment" as Cohen and the others have argued and the state is applying. In reality a lot of Muslim youth find "the elders" somewhat irrelevant to the circumstance. New generations of European Muslims are creating an Islamic identity somewhat different from the ethnic cultures of their parents which - if the Islamphobia preached so loudly by those who were once "on the liberal left" is not entirely successful - will lead to greater democratic activism and involvement.

Its true we have been here before. I should stop using the term Radical Islam as you jump to the defence of their right to be radical. I should use the Hitch description islamofascist i know you would not be quick to defend their rights to be fascist. Anyway its a very correct term for some Islamists, but i know it winds some people up so i try not to use it in these conversations unless pushed.

Fascism reaches back to myths and legends in people's psyche. Back to ideas of self and community that appear eternal but in fact never where. The Fatherland. The purity of the German Volk. The myth of Christ the king in Spain. blah blah...... creating totally new, invented, modern style of society and movement, while pretending to reach back to eternal values and society and belief of old.

The Muslim brotherhood scholars in Egypt invented modern Islamism in the 1920's and 1930's same time as the other modern fascist and totalitarian ideas were taking root in Spain Germany Italy and of course the Soviet Union.

Islamism is the last of the 20th century totalitarian ideas from that time.

You only have to see what is happening to the Bengali people in Tower Hamlets to see their actual islamic culture has been overwhelmed. They have been made to see the error of their ways. They have been forced to change from their actual islamic culture to the newly invented islamofascism that pretends to be their culture. When i lived down there islamic people lived and dressed in the colorful clothes of muslim Bangladesh. Now they are draped in the black of fascist Islam.

Its helpful if people of the West, people on the left particularly, make an effort to look properly and with reason at what is happening.

It is not racist to defend Hirsi Ali's right to free expression as an artist. Her right to be a modern woman. Her right to be a political representative. Her right to be an atheist. Her right to live without fear of having her friends and collaborators killed. Her right to live without fear of death hanging over her. Anyone who values the human rights of women of gays of artists needs to look at her story and ask themselves why they are not able to rally to her call for human rights.

It is not racist to defend the rights of newspapers to publish freely. For the right to publish cartoons.

It's not racist to wish that a Bengali woman living in East London should be allowed to wear the same clothes as her Islamic mother wore before her in Bangladesh. Not as now intimidated into wearing the outfit of fascist Islam thought to be correct for her by Whaarbi Saudis who pay for and control the mosque.

EDL is a bunch of disgusting thugs. NF, BNP the same. I am against these fascist organizations reaching back to an idealized pretend time of ideal british existence and pushing a modern invented fascist utopia. These guys are racists and fascists. It's completely correct for people on the Left to oppose fascism in all forms of course it is. Thats what i am arguing for.

But people on the Left should allow proper debate about islamofascism and require islamic leaders to steer modern Islam out of that arena. Not pretend any discussion about the reality of Islamist organizations in Britain is inherently racist. Bengali leaders need help to stand up to fascist islam when traditional Bengali festivals are being condemned as un-islamic. We should not be defending fascist islam, pretending as the Islamists do that it is really the culture of most of the islamic people of Britain. It isn't their culture. Their culture is being destroyed by fascist Islam.

Oh John Here is something I lifted from a Texas human rights blog that discusses the Amnesty International debacle over having introduced Taliban supporters to their roster of speakers :-)) XXX

News now breaking from across the Atlantic that worldwide human rights activist Gita Sahgal has been "suspended" from the Amnesty International governing board. Her crime? Criticizing AI's alliance with Islamic Terrorist sypmathizer and Taliban defender Moazzam Begg.

The Times On-line reported:
In an email sent to Amnesty’s top bosses, she suggests the charity has mistakenly allied itself with Begg and his “jihadi” group, Cageprisoners, out of fear of being branded racist and Islamophobic.
DNAIndia columnist Antara Dev Sin adds further details:
Sahgal has been protesting within the organisation for some time, in vain. Things may have come to a head last month, when Begg was part of Amnesty’s delegation that met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, demanding that Guantanamo be shut down.
A week later she went public in an interview with the London Times.

From the UK Guardian Feb. 9:
Within hours of the article appearing she was suspended from her job by Amnesty as Gita says in her statement, "trying to do my job and staying faithful to Amnesty's mission to protect and defend human rights universally and impartially".
Michael Weiss in the Wall Street Journal adds this maddening detail to the story, Feb. 26:
Especially galling for Ms. Sahgal is the fact that she only accepted her job after insisting to Widney Brown, senior director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty, that she be allowed to address the Begg alliance.

"I told her, 'If you don't give me the power to clean up this Begg situation, I won't take on the gender affairs assignment. Widney encouraged me to write a memo on it and even came past my office late one night while I was writing to discuss it. There was no internal resistance against this. So I was promoted with full support. Then, when the Sunday Times story broke, everything I uncovered was deemed 'innuendo.'"
Now, Amnesty International has been caught engaged in an efffort of scrubbing their website of comments in support of Sahgal. Back to the UK Guardian:
for some hours yesterday, negative posts on Amnesty's website were being filtered out.
Few Liberals willing to defend Sahgal

What's been the reaction so far, from the liberal human rights community? Almost universal silence.

Noted author and free speech advocate Salman Rushdie has been virtualy the only exception. He has since come to her defense issuing this statement:
"Amnesty International has done its reputation incalculable damage by allying itself with Moazzam Begg and his group Cageprisoners, and holding them up as human rights advocates. It looks very much as if Amnesty's leadership is suffering from a kind of moral bankruptcy, and has lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong. It has greatly compounded its error by suspending the redoubtable Gita Sahgal for the crime of going public with her concerns. Gita Sahgal is a woman of immense integrity and distinction and I am personally grateful to her for the courageous stands she made at the time of the Khomeini fatwa against The Satanic Verses, as a leading member of the groups Southall Black Sisters and Women Against Fundamentalism. It is people like Gita Sahgal who are the true voices of the human rights movement; Amnesty and Begg have revealed, by their statements and actions, that they deserve our contempt."
Christopher Hitchens has strongly denounced Amnesty:
It’s now incumbent on any member who takes the original charter seriously to withdraw funding until Begg is cut loose to run his own beautiful organization and until Sahgal has been reinstated.
But besides Hitchens and Rushdie there has been little if any comment by the big players on the International Left, and nothing but deafening silence by American Liberals.

Besides the two quixotic writers, the only ones so far coming to Sahgal's defense are Human Rights advocates on the Right. [reply]Jezblog London UK :-)) @ March 13, 2010, 2:45 pm

Ali strikes me as being terrified that the moderates will not be able to defeat the violent segments in the Muslim communities unlike the Christians and Jews who she believes have managed to marginalize their extremist factions. Moderates failing is a terrifying scenario. But is her seeming assessment correct that the violent are the mainstream? The violent being those who practice Islam not just embracing the peaceful spiritual aspects of Islam but also the social and political dimensions that to her claims a mandate to convert others by force. I guess my thoughts revolve around a question of her position being radically overstated itself in the overall assessment of the status of the practice of Islam.

As far as Hitchens goes, whatever ideas he could offer to a debate are easily lost in his venomous disposition and bitter rants. He teeters on becoming irrelevant as he definitely expresses himself in an extremist fashion. Obviously, I’m not talking about constructive intensity or passionate debate. I believe the reported problem with alcoholism could be fueling his inability to differentiate between the two states of debate.[reply]Marena Groll @ March 13, 2010, 7:20 pm

Hey Marena..........

1./ Ayaan Hirsi Ali..... You know I actually don't think she is overstating her fear. On the body of her murdered friend and collaborator Theo Van Gough was pinned a death threat against her.

I think if you had been mutilated and constantly hounded throughout your life by followers of the prophet. You know what its all about.

If you had to become an exile from your own land. Then took refuge in another because of things you had said. Then you might start to really understand fear. By the time that same persecution followed you to your new refuge in Holland and the threats began again because you would not remain silent, then you would understand how much bravery is required to speak out.

By the time your fellow collaborators in the art of speaking out are being murdered in the street with death threats against you pinned to their chest by a sacrificial knife..... Yeah, then you know. You know you are dealing with vile fundamentalism. Bravery and fear must be constant in your life.

If you are her only in the USA is it safe enough for you to go without bodyguards sometimes. Remember when you judge her safety and make assessments about her judgements about Islam you are doing it from the safety of the United States. Where it is still safe for people brought up in the Islamic faith to question the prevailing diktat of the islamists without the certainty of threat and attack.

She cannot walk about in Europe without bodyguards. That is the reality.

2./Look it would be easy enough for Hitch to laugh at people who spend all day on their knees on Sunday....... or are prostrate on the floor 5 times a day........ or think god has instructed them to wear a peculiar outfit...... bla blah blah........... he does not just laugh openly about what religious people are doing ....... No he attempts to take seriously their ideas and concepts and address them logically.

He is addressing their arguments not ridiculing how they choose to spend their time.

The very least people who want respect for their religious ideas can do is address his arguments with respect. To dismiss him as an alcoholic is not good enough.

He may spend all day in the pub what has that got to do with what he has written.

I have met him on a few occasions mostly in pubs. He was undoubtedly drunk on most of those occasions but his fierce intellect and incredible learning and knowledge are still dazzling no matter how inebriated he is.

Her personal experiences are definitely a standing witness and testament to the atrocities committed by the violent. But the question remains. There has been no validation of the supposition that moderates cannot gain the upper hand. And are there not others who have experienced like oppression but have come to much different conclusions about the nature/extent of the violence and how to combat it?

BTW, I’m not by any means suggesting, that I am Ali expert, but I’d say I’m probably well informed as to her circumstances. Indeed her life is very much at risk. In the past I provided persuasive council to someone to find another outlet as opposed to a direct association with her efforts. My input was based on opinions I formed after examining what is publically known about her mode of operations to include the status of her security issues even inside the US. But while I may be formulating other impressions about the status of the mainstream, how can anyone see parts of “Submission” and not feel a burning desire to right these wrongs? Still, let’s just say I didn’t suggest a direct association with Christopher Hitchens either to accomplish those ends. His reported decisions in February 09 do not speak to impulse control. Know what you’re doing if you plan to take a stand in the circumstances he found himself in. What prompted him to substitute foolish brashness that seriously endangered himself and others for powerful action drawing on his brilliant intellect and ability to wield a pen like a double edged sword??

As to his dazzling attributes no matter how inebriated he is, neither his intellect or knowledge automatically translates into political wisdom or the wisdom to confront alcoholism which very much does impact on abilities and reputation. If he is excusing or embracing his reported alcoholism as opposed to seeking treatment for it, he is enabling his own demise in terms of longevity of credibility. Not to mention hastening his own physical demise and possibly endangering others as well. My differences with him politically and how he expresses himself under the influence or not, completely pale in my other concern for him. If he is an alcoholic, as all the ancedotal evidence suggests, I truly hope that he summons the same courage he exhibits politically to dissent right or wrong to confront the alcoholism before it kills him. Surely the man has close friends, real friends who haven’t played syncophant or been so star struck that they have failed as a friend to level with him. But ultimately, it is the alcoholic who has to acknowledge a medical need and commit to action.

OK. That’s all from me on this one. See you on the next blog. Hope you had a relaxing Sunday! Later!

Almost the last word. I have to add that I think that people can honestly disagree about the subject and be neither Anti-Muslim Racists nor Islamofascists although I’m aware that both political creatures exist. Now I’m done. I think. Plus I've now used neither/nor correctly. ;-))))))))))[reply]Marena Groll @ March 14, 2010, 6:05 pm